What in the world is going on at Titan Tire’s Natchez plant? The question has been tossed around quite a bit since Titan took over the tire plant from the bankrupt Condere Corporation back in 1998. And it has continued to be a question bantered around during the nearly two and a half year strike of Titan by United Steelworkers of America’s Local 303 union.

But lately the question has a more ominous tone.

Rumors and water cooler talk say the vultures are circling and that the decades-old tire plant may be taking its last breath. In the last week about 50 Titan employees have been fired or laid off.

Titan CEO Morry Taylor has been closed-lipped about the company’s future lately. At one point, Taylor publicly denied any knowledge of the recent cuts at the Natchez plant.

Then he’s said no more cuts were planned. The following day dozens more were given their pink slips.

Now he says the company’s future is unclear but that if further cuts are made within Titan, they will come from the Natchez plant.

In addition, Natchez plant manager Dave Fines refuses to comment on either the cuts or Titan’s future, instead referring all such inquires to Taylor.

While we understand and appreciate that many business decisions are made behind closed doors, in the case of an employer as large at Titan, the people and the public deserve to be kept informed.

And Taylor needs to be a bit more upfront and accountable to the people of Natchez and the workers inside his plant.